The name calling towards Ron Paul and his supporters must end. I constantly see tweets in my timeline from self-declared conservatives and Tea Partiers who call him a “crazy uncle” or an “anti-Semite.” Enough with the ad hominem attacks. It reminds me of liberals who falsely accuse the Tea Party Movement of being racist. Why then are some Tea Partiers calling Ron Paul and his supporters “anti-Semitic” with no substance to back it up? Does the GOP want the youth vote or not? Stop trying to alienate us.

Of course, this is a two-way street. Ron Paul supporters should also be respectful and civil at all times. If you know me, you’ll know that I am a very non-confrontational person. I actually get made fun of for being overly polite. But while I was just walking around CPAC with a Ron Paul button on this year, I got some rude comments and dirty looks from strangers. Some older man said this condescending remark to me, “aw, you like Ron Paul. That’s cute. You are still young so you’ll grow out of it eventually. Don’t worry.”

Young people are finally passionate about limited government, free markets and individual responsibility. We’re gravitating towards the Republican Party for once and this is how we are treated? I know plently of young former Democrats who learned about free market economics and now vote Republican because of Dr. Paul. The GOP ought to be welcoming them with open arms instead of calling us a bunch of “loons.”

I am not responsible for the bad actions of a few. I admit that some Ron Paul supporters can be over the top and give a bad name to the rest of us. But that’s not the majority of us. I’ve found it impossible to have a civil political debate with most of the Paul bashers. They prefer to call him a “nutjob” rather than listening to what I have to say. But what the heck do I know, I’m just a “Paulbot.”

Below is a great article–from a guy who doesn’t support Ron Paul– about the lack of respect that Ron Paul supporters get. My favorite quote, “we stand to gain nothing as a movement by destroying Ron Paul personally and marginalizing his supporters.”

UPDATE: I merely tweeted out “Dear Ron Paul Bashers: Name Calling is Juvenile http://bit.ly/pN1Lk6#tcot#tlot” And here’s the first two responses that I received, “Paulites have been calling everybody not Ron Paul all kinds of names for a long time. Goose, gander” and “I’m sorry but your Ron Paul supporters are cultist in nature. I said one thing about Ron Paul and was cussed out by several!” Both commentators are self-identified conservatives and it looks like they would rather judge people as members of a group rather than individuals. Isn’t that the kind of attitude the Tea Party has been rallying against?

I want to state at the outset that this essay is not intended to be an endorsement of Ron Paul. While I respect and admire many of his positions and his fidelity to the Constitution, I have strong misgivings about some of his stances on national security. If you could hear the debates between myself and my 20-year-old son, a passionate Ron Paul supporter, you would readily accept the sincerity of my disclaimer.

That said, as the political season has heated up, I’ve been surprised at the tone of the discourse as it relates to Ron Paul. In fact, I can hardly believe what I’m seeing and hearing from my fellow Tea Partiers and conservatives. My assumption that conservatives are more thoughtful and logical than my emotion-driven liberal friends has taken a bit of a hit.

Of course, honest debate is imperative in a presidential campaign, but name-calling is counterproductive. Most confounding is how quickly the debate on Ron Paul has degenerated from a discussion of alternative ideas to name-calling (“crazy old fool”) and distortion (“he’s a Jew-hater”). These represent the very same type of attacks that conservatives rail against when they’re directed toward conservatives themselves and people we admire like Sarah Palin, George W. Bush, Michele Bachmann, Ronald Reagan, etc.

Conservatives have forever endured unfair characterizations and false charges. This happens solely because our ideological opponents seek to marginalize and invalidate us. When did it become acceptable for conservatives to direct that same type of thoughtless vitriol toward their own? I will admit that I was prone to many similar assumptions about Ron Paul as my peers harbor. Only after my son began sending me excerpts from Paul’s books and website did I understand his ideology in greater detail.

I still disagree with a good many of his views, but I have come to realize that Ron Paul is most definitely a patriot. I believe that many of his PR problems stem from an inability to express his ideas effectively in a sound-bite world. He appears impatient and unwilling to suffer fools who do not share his level of understanding of the Constitution and the Founders’ intent. An effective executive must exhibit great skill in communicating ideas and building consensus. This, in my opinion, is not one of Ron Paul’s strong suits.

But what conservatives in general need to understand and appreciate is that Ron Paul’s message about small government, individual freedom, free markets, and the Constitution is connecting with the younger generation in ways that the Tea Party has not been able to imitate. Admittedly, passion can sometimes manifest in obnoxious ways. Some of Ron Paul’s supporters can be over the top, but so can some Tea Partiers. The majority of his base is young, and I’d argue that youthful exuberance is at the core of this in-your-face activism. Yes, it’s obnoxious on the one hand, but it’s exciting and hopeful on the other! That the next generation could be turned on by these ideas is what I call true “Hope and Change.”

What I fear more than a Ron Paul presidency is the possibility that his supporters will become disillusioned and alienated by conservatives who are hell-bent on destroying the man personally, rather than debating his ideas thoughtfully. It is imperative that Paul’s young followers feel as though their voices can be heard and our debate can be civil. We stand to gain nothing as a movement by destroying Ron Paul personally and marginalizing his supporters. Our country is crying out for a new generation of leaders to grab the baton and restore constitutionalism after decades of destructive policies by corrupt politicians.

With regard to Ron Paul and his supporters, I appeal to my conservative brethren to raise the level of debate and avoid the urge to use the same unfair tactics that our adversaries employ. We will need Ron Paul and his constituency to get behind another conservative in the race, in the probable event that he doesn’t win the GOP nomination. The majority of our viewpoints are in agreement. We can debate the rest and in the meantime work together toward restoring our Constitution, economic health, individual liberty and our superpower status…together, one step at a time.

I agree with Ron Paul on a lot of issues, but hate his foreign policy. Because I disagree with that and have expressed it, Ron Paul supporters attacked me. They call me names, lie about what Ron has done or not done and cuss me out. Most Ron Paul supporters have a cultist way about them. I have seen some strange things come from his supporters such as he will save us from all woes. He is the second coming and so on…My own sister has attacked me personally because I said something about him. I had people in my church who are Christians become as the devil to attack me about him. I like your post, but do not tell me about being Juvenile. What you should had said, is Ron Paul supporters stop being cultist. A lot of people think a lot of his followers are a cult, full of qooks. I agree!

Hey Julie,
I couldn’t agree with you more. But its not just the “youth” they are attacking. I am 41 and go through the same thing with my “older and wiser” GOP establishment father, and uncles, acquaintances, etc.. They say the same things to me and I am nearly twice your age. In fact my father just returned from Orlando, and the first thing he wanted to tell me were about the “kids” surrounding Ron Paul, which he uses to dismiss and invalidate him outright. I do agree this is very annoying but what I think is really going on is the shaking of the philosophical foundation of the conservative movement in this country, which scares the estab GOPers.

Since WWII the neocon cold-war mentality has dominated the GOP. They had to “meet the Red threat” anywhere it showed its ugly head, planet wide. But when the cold war ended, this “project Americas military power outward and spread democracy” idea has waned. The party has floundered for an identity ever since. The PNAC report over a decade ago explicitly states this, that we need a “new enemy” to galvanize the party and the country (which we know is code for an excuse to keep funding the military industrial complex).

Despite this, real conservative ideas as espoused by Dr. Paul, Thomas Woods, etc have been and are taking hold. The name calling is simply a sign of their desperation. Hang in there. You represent the hope for the conservative movement in this country.

NEOCON, wow where to start with that. First the neocon name was coined by liberals to mock Conservatives who believed in a strong national defense. It was started back in 1973, when Nixon was cleaning up a mess that Johnson had left him, called the Vietnam War. Second the cold war was started by Kennedy and was cleaned up by Reagan who ended it. KNOW YOUR HISTORY!!!!! “Since WWII the neocon cold-war mentality has dominated the GOP. They had to “meet the Red threat” anywhere it showed its ugly head, planet wide”. This statement you made is not even sort of true. Conservatives believe in defending and making sure we are ready for war at all times. To not be ready is just simply ignorant of an evil world and is ignorant of history of it. To be a great leader, you must not want to go to war but be ready for it. Conservatives HATE war, but we want to be ready for it. Reagan believed in a strong military presence, because it would be the greatest way to peace. Knowing if you start a war with us, that your not going to survive puts a damper in you wanting to go to war with us.
Ron Paul supporters have been cultist at times in defending him. Lying about what he has done or not done. Cussing conservatives out, because we disagree with him on military policy.

Trenaway, you are misinformed & misguided to say the least. You clearly are no a Ron Paul supporter (nor will you ever be) so why are you even on this sight?? Sounds like Perry or Romney’s your men. Clearly you like the majority of this country cannot get over the Right/Left paradigm. “Fight among each other while we retain complete control”. That’s the montra of the international banking cartel/IMF/Fed Reserve. They are the ones who really control things. Not Obama, Bush, or Reagan. RON Paul knows this & so do his supporters & more peopel are becoming aware of this. You like many other aging GOP’s need to get over this romanticizing of Reagan. He was a good President & a lovable figure, not a martyr. Nixon, cleaning up Johnson’s mess?? LOL ever here about expanding the war to Cambodia under his watch & lying to the American public about it? JFK started the cold war, happened in the 50’s? You need to learn YOUR history.

I’m new to this sight, however I believe Julie’s intention for this sight is to educate people,support Ron Paul & the Liberatarian ideology. As well as bring Ron Paul supporters together. Not to have a Dick Cheney- idoling neo-cons engage & waste our time with pointless dialogue. If I wanted that I’d be watching Fox News right now.

Trenaway, thats a pretty angry comment you just left, and let me point out that in two out of three of your posts you speak ill of Ron Paul supporters. The article Julie wrote was trying to say “we’re all republican, lets stop fighting each other and join sides.” I’m a Ron Paul supporter and I just wanted to point out that you’re introducing alot of negativity here.

What gets me the most long term is how “they” knockdown the youth as nothing but children with plenty of adjectives not so kind about them as though these younger adults were not part of our nation and just people to be swept under the rug. “They” forget that “they” started this back in the sixties and it was all right for them to protest or get behind an idol of a person or a cause even if it was not quantitatively defined by everyone as the present march on Wall Street people are doing. Actually, if you read about history back then, these people in control today, those of hippie era of yesteryear, were somewhat greedy then in what they wanted and how they reacted towards things. Now that they are the ones in power, their actions are much amplified.

No matter. These “youths” are our people and should not be called all types of bad things no matter what.